Universal Robots: Almost catastrophic quarterly figures, but...
The cobot market is obviously - worldwide - away from the forecast revenues. The repeated failure to meet market expectations is seen here as catastrophic. Because, in my opinion, hardly any market participant is making money. Everyone makes advance payments. The time until the longed-for breakeven is being pushed back more and more. This is taking its toll on the financial substance.
In any case, the market leader's sales fell by a high 16% compared with Q 1 2022. As there may have been local price increases as early as April 2022, the drop in sales could be higher.
BUT: A "bright spot" was the increased demand in Europe, while the other regions were weak. In Asia, the local competition from Chinese, South Koreans, but also Japanese (FANUC) could become stronger and stronger. In the USA, there were the special write-offs until 12/31/22. These were probably used abundantly. Those who automated were able to deduct everything directly from their taxes in the year of acquisition up to a total investment of $1 million. It should also be remembered - with regard to UR - that the UR 20 is not yet delivered. It would not be surprising if at least the UR 16 were now spurned in anticipation of the new technology. In any case, sales were far below those of the previous quarters and not significantly above them.
Teradyne, the parent company, now expects at best a 10% increase in revenue for the full year 2023. Taking into account the price increase as well as the UR 20, sales are unlikely to increase, according to the current expectation. This would be bitter news for accessory manufacturers. Should Europe develop better than Asia, it would certainly be easier to live with this.
And: In the new podcast "Robotics in the Industry", Mladen Milicevic cites good figures for January and February, but significantly more cautious behavior on the part of customers in March.
Mobile Industrial Robot
Sales of mobile robots fell by a more moderate 4%. Now the former AutoGuide revenues are also included in MIR sales, so the figure can hardly be interpreted.
Are we networking? LinkedIn
-> Go to the Cobot group on LinkedIn (link). The author is also a consultant (robotics, tech & finance). Hardly anyone is likely to have a comparable market overview.